Pros And Cons Of Being American Citizens

As Election Day nears, many people have already decided who to vote for president: Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton. Although my mother wants to vote, she cannot. My mother is citizen of the United States. Throughout my life, I believed my parents were both citizens since they lived in the U.S. I presumed that if you lived in this country, you automatically became a citizen. Later in my like I would find out it is much harder to become a citizen but, just because you aren’t a citizen, that does not prevent you from being American. My first election I could remember was in 2004: John Kerry vs. George W. Bush. The day after elections; everyone in my class talked about who won the election and who their parents voted for. Confused, I asked my …show more content…
This was going to be my first time going out of the country, I have gone on an airplane before, and so I knew what to do. While looking for my passport in my mom’s room, I found hers. Looking at it, I noticed it said Peru, not the United States. It felt like a ton of bricks when I realized, what the passport meant. Scrambling in the room, I found my father’s passport. His passport said he is a United States citizen. Holding up the passport, I asked my mom why it was different from everyone else. Sitting me down on the couch, she explained to me that she was not a citizen. Born and raised in Peru, like my father, she moved to the United States for a better life. Unlike my father, she never got her citizenship. When she first came to this country, my mother had a child. He didn’t have the time to understand English and study the test that cost up to seven hundred dollars. My father moved to the states before my mother did, so he had time to get his citizenship before my mother moved. When I was born, I assumed she was a citizen because of the ways she contributes to the community. In spite of her lying to me, I still loved her. Ashamed of not being a citizen she lied to me. Understanding the situation, I forgave her. Knowing the fact that my mother wasn’t a citizen didn’t change how I viewed her but it did open my eyes on who she really is and how society portrays